Sweet Potato Fries and Green Chili Chutney

Orange. It just seems that all things made right is contained in this simple color. Such a fan am I that the many shades cast in this orange-scopic color range, whether it be dusty coral, gorgeous vermilion, even anemic salmon take my breath away, make my heart race and help me to think a little bit faster. 

Transfer this philosophy of mine to food and it multiplies by a couple, landing on that very bridge, where bright, beautiful pigment meets and cloaks the insides of a wonderfully good eat.

The earthily pretty sweet potato, gem like and very majestic in it's naked state (I said it!), is  exactly what I am referencing right now, and serves as top subject for today. 

Row upon row, piled together in season bearing abundance, these magnificos totally mark the harvest and the accompanying plenitude that walks about in it's timely tow. Tubers of all shapes and sizes crowd in unabashedly, but on most occasions, I am plighted with the warm hued Sweet that screams my name. 

And due to the quantum fact that they are so haplessly cheap, I am basket- laden, and desperately deluged with more than a month's share, which then finds space all over my storage area, read the floor, and onto the designated chop zone of my counter. On sight, cravings stumble in, those of which ideas and bomb recipes spring forth.

So I set out to make my first batch of sweet potato fries for the month. Taking five firm tubers and utilizing much ignored arm muscle I slice, imperfection at it's height, wedges of a dimension that qualify as only homemade bestly could. Covering those wedges with just the right amount of oil, I bake sweet potato fries to a crisply conjured, light- seasoned perfection. 

With the spot on temperature and timing, these sweet fries are spectacularly easy and so intriguingly good. Not only are they flavorful, but the very root from which they were birthed hail in optimum health kick status. With more than a lofty share of nutrient value sourced from vitamins B6, C, and D, so also a good dose of magnesium working it's anti stress properties through this cartenoid high biggie, sweet potato has more benefits than I have possible page space for or time to allot. A performing potato that transcends super mega function.

So to brace this heavy weight, I don't consider a dipping sauce, gooped concoction worthy of it's time or your tastebuds. No. Instead, an effortless 4 ingredient, no count salt, chili crushed chutney works here. Oh yes, this glorious pairing will just about blow that inert palate right out of your unsuspecting mouth. It will usher in a new dawn, an appreciation for all sweetly starched roots and the knowledge that they most rightly should be anchored into only this formidably piquant destination. 

As for the chutney, it does dual role, creating balanced harmony, as well as cutting through any saccharin-ey, cloying taste rendered by Sweet. Both the fries and the chutney sort of build on each other, where knowing one will create a need to get better acquainted with the other.

Yes, this one alone may well be the converter, where even the most cynical prophets of sweet potato doom will fall prey to baked orange charm.

So, for all you doubters and nonbelievers, never say never.

Sweet Potato Fries~

Ingredients:

• 2-3 tbsp canola oil
• 5 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into wedges
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• ¾ tsp cayenne or paprika

Red cayenne, salt and a shot of sugar gussy up my not so perfect cuts.  

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Line a sheet tray with foil. In a large bowl, combine oil, salt, sugar and cayenne.Toss to coat slices with this mixture
• Spread slices in single layer on prepared baking sheet, don't crowd . 
• Bake until tender and golden, flipping halfway through, about 30 minutes total.
• Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving with green chili chutney.

Green Chili Chutney~

Ingredients:

• 8 green chillies( serrano peppers)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tsp vinegar
• ¼ c coconut oil

Directions:

• Crush chillies, salt water and vinegar with a mortar pestle or a small mini grinder, chunky form.
• Pour mixture into a small container. Stir in coconut oil.

For the faint of heart, I'd  deseed these, replace serranos with jalapenos, or best yet, bring down the number of chilies and blend in half cupful of plain yogurt. 

There is a faultless crisp that takes place here. Crunchy outsides with soft insides. A good thing they  are healthy, since you won't be able to stop with just a serving, why not two (?), most surely three.

******

So small a thing, yet it has the power to destroy or bring forth life and light. ~

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits." Proverbs 18:21 (ESV)

Who have you blessed today?